Exceptions to Every Rule
by newbie46
Summary: Cliche bad boy, good girl tale, right? She follows the rules, he breaks them. But even he knows that there are exceptions to every rule. High school fic!


**A/N: Please beware of any swearing. Also I apologise for any errors. English isn't my first language. I'm new to this site, by the way so uh... Hi! And thanks for reading.**

* * *

 **Four :**

My father was always one to take the easy road out of every situation.

Every time I was on the edge of getting my ass expelled, he'd pay the school board large sums of money to keep me enrolled. Not once would he think about giving me a lecture about what was wrong and what was right.

Every time I asked for money, he'd give me enough to last 6 months so I wouldn't have to keep irritating him about my living expenses. It was also, so that important upcoming events for me, such as school excursions wouldn't have to bother him as it was unnecessary for him to know such information. Because of this, he missed out on my first ever football game as the only freshman who made into the Varsity team.

And when I was getting into _too_ much trouble, (my involvement with gangs having slightly surprised my father, due to his lack of knowledge about my life), just so he wouldn't have to deal with me himself, he sent me off to his more _well-behaved_ son Eric, in Chicago so that _he_ would do the disciplining, hence why I sighed at the sight of him the minute I landed in Chicago.

It's not that I despise my brother (I used to admire his... _everything_ actually), I just don't think I know him as well as I used to. He's been away from home for 2 years now. And the last time I had a real interaction with him, he was in the same boat as I was: gang affairs.

The only difference between our two situations was that my Dad didn't know about his involvement. And before he could have found out anything concerning it, Eric had magically experienced some massive change of heart. He suddenly turned his life around and was now, apparently, on the road to success.

If he thinks that my being here would allow me to follow in his footsteps, then he'd be dead wrong. We may share the same blood, but we're two completely different people.

As I approached my brother, he grinned a little before pulling me into a manly hug. I reciprocated the action just for good measure.

"Welcome to Chicago" he greeted while taking my carry-on bag, "How was your flight?"

A hum of annoyance escaped my mouth as I muttered, "Fine." I wasn't exactly in the mood to talk. However, despite my brother knowing this, he continued otherwise.

"So what's this I hear about gang affairs?" he asked casually. I immediately glared.

"Don't lecture me" I growled at him. "You're not my father."

"I'm not trying to" he replied as we arrived at his Audi car. "But because you'll be living under _my_ roof, I do have rules. Affiliation with gangs is one of them." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the irony. As a teenager, gangs was all he ever knew. Now he was a wannabe male version of Oprah.

"Yeah okay, whatever" I mumbled under my breath as we drove off. I wasn't sure how long I was going to keep his so-called rules, especially the one about gangs, considering a) I usually attract gangs for some unknown reason (whether it's bloodline or loyalty) and b) rules were never my thing.

But out of respect for my brother, the least I could do is _act_ like I'd abide by them.

Glancing out of the window, I watched as the buildings and surrounding nature blurred passed in a hurry as we continued down a winding road. The silence was soothing to my mentality... until my brother decided to break it.

"Just to give you a 'heads-up' Toby, tomorrow you'll be starting at Divergent High." My head immediately snapped in his direction.

"Already?" I questioned in disbelief. "Can't you give me a week to adjust?" At this, he averted his gaze away from the road to face me, his brow raised.

"What's there to get adjusted to, other than school?" I grimaced at his words, already disliking the idea of starting school. But I decided to concede anyway, knowing there wasn't any way out of it.

"The name's Four" I then told him harshly, gazing out of the window once more. "Not Toby. Or Tobias."

"You're seriously going to stick with that nickname?" he asked. I purposely scoffed aloud.

"You're the one who gave it to me, remember?" From the corner of my eye I could see him frown. But I knew he couldn't argue that. Was it not him who started calling me Four after I won my first street brawl at the age of 4?

I almost grinned when he had nothing else to say when abruptly, he opened his mouth to speak.

"By the way," he started, I could already hear the victory in his voice, "I signed you up for extra early morning English classes that DH hosts every Monday's so you'll be going to that tomorrow as well." _Bastard!_ "Oh and before you start disagreeing," he added while I closed my mouth and glared, "I did that for your benefit considering you kept skipping most of your classes back in Colorado. You could use the extra help, _Four_."

"I'm not going to that" I replied defiantly. It was bad enough that school lasted for about 6-7 hours a day. Adding another hour just for an additional English session was fucked up on so many levels. Who the hell was even willing to attend those classes?

I continued to glare at him as if daring him to say something in response.

He kept his eyes trained forward on the road as expected, yet almost immediately, an aura of dominance spiked around him as he silently spoke four words.

"We'll see about that."

* * *

I grimaced as the teacher droned on and on about the context and history of the play they were studying this year. And it didn't help my boredom that I already knew everything there was to know about the play, inside _and_ out.

Yes, it's hard to believe but at my old school, we had studied this play at the time when learning had been tolerable for me.

There were only 5 students, including myself, that had actually shown up to the extra English class. And unlike the rest of them, I could tell that I was the only one who was dragged into attending this. The others looked as if it was their own choice to be there as they attentively latched on to the teachers every word.

Just as I was about to debate whether or not I'd get expelled for falling asleep, Ms. Reyes asked a question that piqued my interest.

It wasn't necessarily the question itself, it was more so the answer that a certain blonde female student gave.

"Alright, as a class, let's discuss Medea's reasoning for murdering her children. Why did she commit such a heinous crime?" Ms. Reyes asked.

"Because of her ex-husband Jason" the stormy eyed student responded. "He betrayed her. He broke their oath of marriage by leaving her for another woman. Murdering their children was her way of executing revenge on him."

"You can't place the blame entirely on him though" a voice then spoke up. It took a minute for me to realise that that voice had belonged to me. All eyes turned to stare at me, almost as if they had just noticed my presence.

The teacher confirmed that.

"Ah, you must be the new student, Mr. Eaton." I shrugged but kept my eyes trained on the girl who stared right back at me. Her gaze was curious and slightly surprised at my intervention. It was almost as if her eyes were trying to solve something by the way they bore into mine. "Mr. Eaton, would you like to explain what you mean by that?" the teacher then asked.

I hummed quietly in response. "Yes, you can blame Jason as her reasoning but society played a huge role in the filicide as well."

"Society had nothing to do with it" she argued.

"Society had _everything_ to do with it" I responded sharply and swiftly. She narrowed her gaze at this. "Because their societal rules had allowed him to break his oath and his marriage to Medea," I slowly explained, "he was able to follow through with exactly that. If society had not enforced it, he would've still been with Medea and the filicide would've been prevented."

The minute the last word left my mouth, a thick layer of silence enveloped the entire room. Everyone stared at me while I stared at her alone.

Her eyes were penetrating yet daring. She wasn't amused that I had gained the upper hand yet she was quite impressed.

Finally, after a moment of continued stillness, Ms. Reyes broke everyone out of their trance.

"Very good. Thank you for that Mr. Eaton. I'm beyond impressed that our class was able to answer my question with both the literal and implied components..." I drowned out her voice and the rest of her words as she went on. The girls eyes were averted now to pay attention to the teacher but I kept mine on her.

She was a fierce one, that girl.

Her eyes had said it all.

...

As soon as the extra English class was over with, I headed to the Administration Office to grab my schedule. However, the principal had me sit while she welcomed me to the school and explained the rules and principles which they abided by.

I suppressed a yawn.

Fortunately it wasn't long until a knock on the door caused her to stop.

When she invited the person in, my eyebrows raised when the same girl from earlier entered the office. A smile instantly grew on the principal's face.

"Ah, there you are Tris!"

"Good Morning Ms. Wu" she greeted in reply. Her voice, surprisingly, was a lot lower than most girls. I found it almost refreshing.

My gaze then lowered to travel the rest of her as she chatted with the principal and I inwardly scoffed at my findings. Her eyes may have been intriguing but what she was wearing was anything but.

She wore black leggings with black and white Adidas sneakers and an oversized black hoodie with the school's name on it, that reached mid thigh. I frowned, despite finding it a little humorous. Clothing styles such as that was rare.

 _And_ unappealing to the average hormonal teenage boys eyes.

"So Mr. Eaton" the principal then said, interrupting my thoughts, "this is Tris Prior, your tour guide for the day." I instantly raised a brow.

"No one said anything about a tourguide" I replied.

"Well," she began hesitantly, chancing a glance at Tris, "we pride ourselves in this program as majority of new students who come here, reported that they have felt welcomed at this school because of the help of their tour guides. Also, they are able to assist you throughout the day if you need any help. Not only just today, but throughout the week as well. Do you understand?"

"Yeah" I drawled, sighing a little.

"Okay" she beamed. "Are there any questions?" I nodded at this opportunity.

"Yeah. One." She hummed in response. "Can I get another tour guide?"

Immediately, the girls eyes narrowed dangerously thin. Not exactly in the sense that she was offended, just... competitive.

"Trust me" she then said unexpectedly, "the feeling is mutual." A snicker erupted from the principal's mouth at this before she covered it up with a cough. As I glanced over to her, I realised that they were standing a little too close to each other for a teacher-student relationship.

Relatives perhaps. That would explain the proud gleam in the principal's eyes at the girls bravado comeback.

"Great" Ms. Wu then announced. "Now that that's settled, welcome to Divergent High."

I silently scoffed.

Taking this as a sign to leave, the blonde exited the room but not before staring me down cautiously. Following after her, I quickly noticed that she had a copy of my schedule in her hands.

 _Great_ , I thought, _now she knows where I am all the time._

"Alright" she spoke as I closed the office door, "I guess I'll show you to your locker. Follow me."

Before she could start walking away though, I stopped her. As she spun to face me, a look of irritation was evident on her face.

Her brow arched in question.

"First of all" I began, "I don't need a babysitter. And for the record, I can find my locker all on my own."

Just like that, I started walking away. From behind me, I could feel her eyes pierce the back of my head before she called out to me.

"Four." I pretend not to hear. "Four!" she tried again but I kept walking, ignoring her protests. Soon, I came across a bunch of lockers. I immediately prided myself in my success before looking for locker #46. Once I found it, I turned to find that she had caught up and was glaring at me with all the might her stormy eyes could hold.

I smirked. "I told you I could find it on my own."

Four: _1_ Tris: _0_

Grabbing the lock, I put in the combination as the smirk remained plastered on my face. However, it quickly reverted into a frown when it refused to open. I tried again.

Still, I came up empty.

"This" Tris then started, "is locker #46 of the _West_ Wing, Junior area. Senior lockers are all in the _East_ wing."

 _Shit_.

Four: _0_ Tris: _1_

"So" she continued, clearing her throat and a smirk of her own appearing, "if you'll follow me then." And with a huff, she walked off towards the _opposite_ direction.

I grimaced for the third time today.

Unimpressed with my defeat, I reluctantly followed after her.

With a glare still permanent on my face, I decided one thing as she led me through various corridors: this day was already looking like a bitch.


End file.
